Beer of the Bass

I've potted pickups at home a few times, after dabbling in winding my own. I used about 80% paraffin wax in the form of white household candles and 20% beeswax in the form of those little sticks they stock in hardware shops. This was cheaper than buying bags of wax pellets for candle making. I put the wax in a plastic takeaway tub, which sat inside a metal oven dish of water with a rack to keep the tub off the bottom, heated with occasional bursts of a hob on its lowest setting. The temperature you want is hotter than a hot bath but cooler than a fresh cup of tea, where you can stick your fingers in without pain but not keep them there for a long time. A thermometer would have been a good idea, but really as long as it's hot enough to stay fully melted but not so hot as to cause a fire hazard it'll work.

That's a very tidy job, quite Burman-esque with the tagboards and neat lead-dress. Neater than the guitar amp I did for myself (which was in Fender style on eyelets), so I can appreciate the work that went into that.

That's very cool. Transformers for a 200 watter can't have been cheap!

Some kind of piezo pickup (like the Shadow pickups linked above) will be a little less natural sounding but much more feedback resistant than a mic, and is probably the best option in a louder band with drums. They really need some sort of dedicated Piezo preamp or a good active DI box with input impedance of 1M ohm or higher, as straight into a line input or using the wrong DI box they can sound terrible!

I use drop-D tuning on double bass in just one song and it's a pain in the bum as the A-string always needs a tweak at the same time. I have creaky old wooden hatpeg tuners too, just to make re-tuning more fun. I don't do it to match the guitarist, but because a bowed low-D pedal note sounds good in that one song. If the guitarist messes with the order of the set list it can get really irritating! Some day I'll get a C-extension fitted, but they're not cheap...

It's getting perilously close to being a finished neck now! The headstock decal is on and I've coated over it with several coats of tru-oil. Hopefully that will be enough to stop it from peeling. I've roughly cut the nut too, which I'll finish during the setup. Next I need to level and crown the frets. I have a gig on Saturday, so hopefully I'll have it together for that.

Are these still going round? It's been a while with no comments on the thread.

Silicone products like Mr Sheen are best avoided, as they are extremely persistent and can prevent glues or adhesives from working years down the line if any repair or refinishing work are needed. It tends to creep and spread from where you've used it too. I have seen and heard more than one rant from luthiers on the subject! For rosewood fingerboards you just want a light oil which won't go rancid (i.e not most vegetable oils), used sparingly and not too often.

That sounds pretty good - it would perhaps benefit from a little EQ but as you say, it's an unprocessed recording. Is that the crackle you mentioned that I can hear from about 0.10 - 0.14? It almost sounds like it might be a mechanical rattle rather than an electrical crackle. Nice playing too! For my own gigs I've settled on an AKG perception 150 mounted like in the picture above, though it's smaller and lighter than the Rode. It's worked well so far, even on an outdoor festival stage. At that gig the sound guy had to do a little work with the EQ during the soundcheck to stop feedback but once that was done it was quite workable. At smaller gigs it's been surprisingly quick and hassle-free to get a decent sound out of. I still have the AKG C411 on the bass just in case the mic doesn't work out at a particular gig.

Out of curiosity, is this single or multiple plies and does it look printed or like proper marbled plastic? I'm eyeing up the brown "tiger" version of the same material from the same seller on eBay. It's hideous, but in a strangely appealing way!

Cheers! The decal paper was the clear laserjet version from this chap on eBay, though he seems to be out of stock at the moment. [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-X-INKJET-OR-LASERJET-WATERSLIDE-DECAL-PAPER-CLEAR-WHITE-BLUE-BACK-/321461032416?pt=UK_Crafts_Other_Crafts_EH&var=510356810014&hash=item4ad89215e0"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-X-INKJET-OR-LASERJET-WATERSLIDE-DECAL-PAPER-CLEAR-WHITE-BLUE-BACK-/321461032416?pt=UK_Crafts_Other_Crafts_EH&var=510356810014&hash=item4ad89215e0[/url]

I've done a quick test of my decal using an offcut from the headstock. I've reversed the image and printed it to laser decal paper, then filled in the letters with silver paint pen. The decal is then soaked off its backing and applied to the headstock. Because the decal paper is used the wrong way round, I have added a drop or two of PVA to the water to help things stick. I've applied the decal over a couple of coats of tru-oil, allowed it to dry then added a couple more coats over the top and they seem to be compatible. I'm not sure whether I want to leave the decal as plain as this or perhaps add a couple of words in smaller text. I think I like this font though - it's nice and simple and not reminiscent of a particular maker.

I think the reverb on a Blues Junior is the weak link for that sort of style, as it just doesn't get the depth and splashiness of the valve driven reverb on the older Fenders. So I'm going to second the suggestions above for a Blackface or Silverface Fender of some sort (whether an old one or a re-issue) and choose the model to suit your tastes for volume and amount of dirt. Anything from a Princeton Reverb to a Twin Reverb will get you that basic sound, it just depends what size of room you need it in and how loud your band are.

I've been carrying on with the tru-oil. This is three coats in, and I don't think I'll go much further, though I think I'll use steel wool and Briwax for a bit of a sheen. The last time I used tru-oil, I left too much on and had to do loads of cutting back to get it even. This time I've wiped it on with a coffee filter and tried to leave only enough to barely wet the surface, which seems to work much better. The wood is looking quite pretty in an understated sort of way, much nicer than the yellow "vintage" matt poly on the old neck. I've also tru-oiled an offcut from the headstock to try out my decal idea. I was toying with the idea of trying to get it ready for my gig tomorrow, but I reckon I'd be better to take my time and do a decent job of the fret-dressing and nut.

I've done some more sanding and the first coat of tru-oil is on. Unfortunately my camera batteries are dead! I'm also doing some experimenting with decal paper. It's just going to say "beer" (my surname) in Helvetica Neue lt 75 outline font, with the centre filled in with silver paint pen.

Any particular height can feel different depending on how the fingerboard has been shaped, so it's hard to be too prescriptive. Some players go even lower for a steel string jazz setup, some keep it higher.

I gather that wouldn't unusual for orchestral playing, but for jazz with steel strings I'd want it lower. I have had incredulous looks from a general stringed instrument luthier when asking that my string height be no higher than 7mm on the G string - he shook his head and said "but that's a cello setup!" . This is why luthiers who play jazz bass are like gold dust! I'd be inclined to go back and talk about how you'd like it.

The Superflexibles are quite high-tension steel strings, despite the name. They're good strings but would be hard work for rockabilly slap unless you buy the solo-tuning version (designed to be tuned a whole tone higher) and use them at standard pitch. Innovation strings could be worth a look, as they make several sets designed for rockabilly playing and they're reasonably priced. Most bridges are higher at the E-string side than the G-string side, so a bridge shaped for left handed playing may need some work for a right-handed setup. It might be a good idea to have a luthier look over your bass to see if any setup work is needed.

I had one of these for a while. I must say, I never understood the double bass comparisons as it sounds much closer to a fretless bass guitar with flats IMO. It was a fun instrument, but I never really found a role for it that I didn't prefer another bass for.

It's annoying, as I wanted to try the 5-string Fender flatwounds with their tapered B. I just missed the last few sets on eBay!

Most festivals I've been to (playing or as a punter) have had adequate hired backline, although some bands prefer not to use it. Sometimes it's even been quite nice stuff! So I'd second the suggestion of speaking to the guys supplying the PA first.

I like it, but then I'm of the opinion that electric guitars and basses ought to be kitschy looking to some extent. What colour bass is it going on?

I've finished carving the back of the neck. I started by hogging a load of material off with a surform, then when I got closer to the desired profile I used a spokeshave for a slightly smoother cut. A small block plane proved useful too. The transitions at the headstock and heel were shaped partly by carving with a chisel and partly with a rasp, then smoothed with sandpaper wrapped round a large dowel. Now I just have lots of sanding to do before applying the first coat of oil. I've ended up with a somewhat visible glue line between the fingerboard and neck. This is less than ideal, but the joint seems solid and I think it is mostly due to carbon fibre dust darkening the glueing surface of the neck where I had to sand down the top of the rods slightly. If I do this again, I will make sure to route the slots slightly deeper so that the rods sit a hair below the neck surface.

If you leave him negative feedback you may be surprised at how easily some sellers manage to have it removed, even if you follow the rules meticulously.

The singer/guitarist in one of my bands always seems to be struggling with this. She's experimented with different types of capo and had the guitar well set up but it is still an issue. I think it might be exacerbated by her using a 24" Squier Jagmaster with light gauge strings, as it's not a problem when we do acoustic sets. But she likes that guitar and doesn't want to change anything, so we just put up with it as best we can...